Page 121 of Trip Me Up

EPILOGUE

TWO WEEKS LATER

SAM

When the elevatordoors slid open on the sixth floor of the Synergy building, the energy was different. Wrong. It buzzed with anger like the fluorescents in the campus police station’s holding cell. I shuddered at the memory.

Jackson’s door was open, and Marlee and Tyler whispered at her desk in front of it.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?”

Marlee jumped, her eyes wide. “Sam! What are you doing up here?”

“Meeting with Jackson. Is he ready?”

“Oh, ah”—she exchanged a look with Tyler and then flicked her gaze down the hall toward Cooper’s office—“yeah, I think you’re going to have to postpone that.”

“Why? Did my brother flake again?” Last week, he’d forgotten about a meeting with me and hadn’t come back from lunch with Alicia. When I’d ribbed him about it later, after dinner, he’d grumbled about not having any privacy in his own home anymore. Fair, since I was still living with him. But I’d been sure to take Noah to the planetarium all day on Saturday and then to a sci-fi movie that night.

Tyler crossed his arms. “Jackson doesn’t flake. He just has other priorities.”

Marlee laid a gentling hand on Tyler’s arm. “It’s not your brother’s fault. This time, it’s Cooper.” Her voice went low, and she twisted her lips.

“Cooper? I’ve never known him to—wait. He’s back?” Cooper, who usually helped Jackson unfuck whatever he’d fucked up, had been AWOL since I’d come to work at Synergy two weeks ago.

“Yeah, and he really brought the drama this time. Wait until you hear what he and Ben—”

My phone buzzed in my hand, and I held up a finger. I had to be sure it wasn’t the hapless intern Jackson had hired to help me. He needed more care and feeding than Bilbo Baggins.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Jones, it’s José at security. You have a visitor. A Mr. Flynn.”

“Niall’s here? But he’s in…” Where was Niall supposed to be? St. Louis? Kansas City? Somewhere in the middle of the country.

“He’s asking to see you. Should I send him up?”

“Hell, yes! I mean, yes, please. I’m on six.” My finger shook over the red button. Niall was in San Francisco? I wasn’t ready. I ran my fingers through my hair, but they snagged in my loose bun. Shit! I pulled it out and finger-combed my hair.

A smile teased at Marlee’s lips. “Look at you. Ms. I-don’t-want-a-man is nervous because her boyfriend shows up to sweep her off her feet.” She leaned into Tyler, and he put his arm around her.

“Don’t be smug. Do I look okay?” I smoothed down my Flash Gordon T-shirt.

“You look great,” Tyler said. A dimple creased his cheek. I could always count on Tyler to say the right thing.

“Gorgeous.” Marlee flicked my hair in front of my shoulder. “Though someday, I’m going to convince you to rethink those cargo pants.”

“You’ll rip my cargo pants off my cold, dead—” Behind me, the elevator pinged, and I whirled to find my redheaded Viking stepping out of the metal doors. “Niall!”

In four strides of his long legs, he’d wrapped me in his arms. I breathed in his piney scent.Home.I might’ve wrecked my own dreams and ended up as a midlevel programmer in my brother’s high-tech building with underpowered servers, but now that Niall was there, I was exactly where I belonged.

“Sam,” he whispered into my ear. His lips tickled my neck, and I shivered.

“You’re supposed to be in—”

He kissed me, and the firm slide of his lips made me forget what I was saying. “I couldn’t wait,” he murmured.

“Hey, Niall,” Marlee said. “It’s nice to meet you in person.”

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